Goya and Cholla and the Betwixting Art Connection

By Sandra Chereb, Associated Press Writer
RENO — His artwork has been described as having the “fire of Pollock” and the “fixed gaze of Resnick.”

Now, a Reno artist will be making his international debut, having been invited to exhibit his work in a juried art competition in Italy.

He won’t be going abroad, however, to bask in the aura of great Italian masters. Instead, this artist will remain at home, contemplating his next masterpiece while gnawing on his paintbrushes — between mouthfuls of hay.
Cholla (pronounced CHOY-ah) is a mustang-quarter horse mix whose paintings have been featured in art exhibits from San Francisco to New York and now overseas.

Since Cholla rhymes with Goya I decided to make this an educational post. Preferably and pointedly after the plein air pony pics with palette and poserly poise. I am stuck on alliteration today.

Pensive Pony in plein air. Cholla, the painterly pony of pleasing palettes. I think I'd not have chosen that frame for that painting however but that's just Moi. Cholla is thinking the same thing, as one can pleinly see, by his pondering pose.

Goya, at tea time. Don't be scrayed, he's just playing. I have been using 'scrayed' over 'scared' since 2000. Some typos are worth keeping. Don't go changing. But really, this is the real (ish) title - Saturn Devouring His Son, 1819. The title, like all those given to the Black Paintings, was assigned by others after Goya's death.

Cholla in his plein air studio posing for the photographer.

Amazing coincidental facts about Goya and how they relate to Cholla. It is truly inexplicable, the similarities betwixt the two artists. A true head scratcher…
Similarities between Goya and Cholla, besides the rhyming thing:

Goya: Goya was born in the small Aragonese town of Fuendetodos (near Saragossa) [ed. note— I read this at first as ‘Freudetodos which would mean ‘all Freud’ or, ‘totally Freudian’, as in totally Freudian town. Imagine that…] on March 30, 1746. His father was a painter and a gilder of altarpieces, and his mother was descended from a family of minor Aragonese nobility.

Cholla: Horses are often seen as noble.

Goya: In 1771 Goya went to Italy for approximately one year. His activity there is relatively obscure; he spent some months in Rome and also took part in the Parma Academy competition, in which he was successful.

Goya: One of the nicest of Goya’s paintings, “The Love Letter”, painted 1812-1814, was issued by France for Stamp Day 1981.

Cholla: Horses are very loveable.

Goya:Straightforward candour and honesty are also present in Goya’s later portraits, such as Family of Charles IV (1800, Prado), in which the royal family is shown in a completely unidealized fashion, verging on caricature, as a group of strikingly homely individuals.

Cholla: Horses can do straightforward canter, in a straight line, which is like straightforward. The canter, or lope, is the fastest of the three gaits

Goya: The Black Paintings (c. 1820, Prado), chilling scenes of witchcraft and other bizarre activities, are among the most outstanding works of the artist’s late years. They were originally painted in fresco on the walls of Goya’s country house and are now transferred to canvas. Painted predominantly in blacks, browns, and greys, they attest to his progressively darkening mood, possibly aggravated by an oppressive political situation in Spain that forced him to leave for France in 1824.